Elementary - Art in the Blood

Following the fallout of last week's episode, Mycroft (Rhys Ifans) is forced to come clean to both Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson (Lucy Liu) about his role as a "sort of clearinghouse for MI:6." Still stunned by the news, Holmes' meeting with Mycroft's handler (Ralph Brown) results in the consulting detective being hired by MI:6 to investigate the murder of a former bi-polar high-value asset. A trip to the morgue and the discovery of a dissected corpse missing both arms, confirms suspicions that the man's death was anything but a simple robbery gone wrong.

Mycroft's relationships with both Watson and Holmes are the driving force of the episode as neither is inclined to forgive him for his deception and the lifestyle which led to Watson's kidnapping. After talking to the victim's ex-wife (Emily Bergl), a tattoo artist who inked her husband's missing arms in invisible ink, Sherlock gets a new lead in the case when he deduces those tattoos hold the secrets to a mole within the British Government and Watson begins to suspect there's more to Mycroft choosing to work for MI:6 than she initially realized.


Given his flair, MI:6 offers Sherlock a permanent position in the organization. He of course promptly declines, but remains on the case even after discovering more than enough information to balance out his debt. In doing so Holmes also comes across an alarming discovery when he discovers someone has planted Mycroft's fingerprints on the murder weapon and is framing his brother as both a murder and traitor to the British Government.

Aside from revealing more about Mycroft, and the beginnings of a mystery and frame which will continue into next week's season finale, "Art in the Blood" has several other points of interest. Watson finally broaches the subject of moving out (which her roommate does not take well) and discovers Mycroft is more a kindred spirit than she thought as both have assumed the responsibility to take care of Sherlock "whether he realizes it or not." Despite his history with Mycroft, and the recent revelation that he's been lying about working with MI:6 for more than a decade, Holmes never questions the fact that his brother might have committed the crimes for which he is being framed. It appears there might be a familial bond after all, weak and tenuous as it may be, still connecting the Holmes boys.